The gunman suspected of killing two and wounded seven others in an attack in Tel Aviv last Friday has reportedly been shot dead.
According to reports, Nashat Melhem who is alleged to have opened fire in a bar last week, was today found by police in his home town of Ar'ara in northern Israel, after a week-long manhunt.
He was shot dead following a firefight with police officers.
According to reports, Milhem was holed up in a mosque when security forces tracked him down. On trying to escape from the building, he opened fire on the police, using the same type of gun used in the bar attack last weekend. The police and the Shin Bet security service believe that an accomplice may have helped hide Melhem.
On Friday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the police and security forces for "acting relentlessly, methodically, and professionally to locate and neutralize the terrorist."
While defence minister Moshe Ya'alon said that "the elimination of the terrorist Nashat Melhem proves once again that the State of Israel would pursue to the end its malefactors anywhere – within the state, along its borders and even far beyond them."
The motives for the the attack in Tel Aviv are still unknown. Ar’ara resident Attorney Ahmed Hamza told Haaretz newspaper: "We would have been happier if there was a solution to the mystery – who did it, why he did it. This tarnishes the entire area."
Milhem was detained by police in 2007 after attacking a soldier with a screwdriver and trying to grab his gun.
During questioning he is believed to have said he wanted revenge for the death of a cousin allegedly killed by police in 2006.
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